Gas streams often carry particulate material therein. In many instances it is desirable to remove some or all of the particulate material from the gas flow stream. For example, air intake streams to engines for motorized vehicles or power generation equipment often include particulate material therein. The particulate material, should it reach the internal workings of the mechanisms involved, can cause substantial damage. It is therefore preferred, for such systems, to remove the particulate material from the gas flow upstream of the engine or other equipment involved. A variety of air cleaner arrangements have been developed for particulate removal.
There has been a general trend for the utilization of air cleaner arrangements that utilize, as a media pack, z-filter media constructions. In general, z-filter media constructions can be characterized as comprising fluted media sheet material secured to a facing media sheet material, formed into a media pack configuration. Examples of z-filter arrangements are described in PCT Publication WO 97/40918, published Nov. 6, 1997; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,190,432 and 6,350,291; PCT application US 04/07927, filed Mar. 17, 2004; U.S. Provisional application 60/532,783, filed Dec. 22, 2003; PCT Publication 03/095068, published Nov. 20, 2003; PCT publication WO 04/007054, published Jan. 22, 2004 and; PCT publication WO 03/084641, published Oct. 16, 2003. The complete disclosures of each of these cited references is incorporated herein by reference.
As advantages related to z-filter media constructions are more widely recognized, applications of the technology in a variety of alternate configurations for alternate applications are desired.